Month: September 2021

LUCOZADE SALES SPIKED as usual in bars around Ireland when Liverpool took on Spurs in an early kick-off on Saturday.

It was the weekend’s standout Premier League fixture, which meant a mandatory pub visit for those who don’t have Sky Sports. But the game’s 12.30pm start time meant alcohol was off the menu.

I ordered a Lucozade and smiled to myself when I noticed the man beside me at the bar put in the same order.

I don’t know how or why Lucozade became the mandatory non-alcoholic pub drink for the thirty-something Irish male.

I think it’s because, when served with ice cubes in a pint glass, it kind of looks like the more manly drink order of a pint of cider. And our male egos really are just that fragile.

But I digress. As well as Lucozade, this man (let’s call him Tony) also bought a small pack of Pringles for his young son, who looked to be about five or six years old.

They were both decked out in Liverpool shirts and, for a while, the kid seemed content to follow the action on screen. But being a kid, it wasn’t before long that the youngster became bored and restless.

Clearly, this was a contingency for which Tony had come prepared. He fished his smartphone and a set of earphones from his pocket and handed it over.

Source: Martin Rickett

The boy was soon contentedly watching YouTube videos, while his father and I mulled over Liverpool’s chances this season.

Like most Liverpool fans, Tony was trying not to get carried away. It’s September. These are early days, he said. But things were looking good, I suggested? “Salah needs to start scoring again,” he reckoned. “Or else the press will be on his back.”

Virgil van Dijk was Tony’s new star man. Based on the Dutch defender’s performances this season, he reckoned the captaincy should be awarded to him.

Tony was not a fan of current captain Jordan Henderson. His pass completion stats are off the charts, I offered. “Phh,” said Tony, dismissively. “That’s because he always passes backwards. Sure, I’d have a 100% pass completion rate if I only ever passed to the guy stood ten yards behind me.”

Tony and his father used to make it over to Anfield for six or seven games a season. “Not anymore,” he lamented.

“The wife, you know yourself.” Not a happy camper? “Not happy,” he spat. “Mate…” He turned to make sure his son wasn’t listening. “I nearly got a divorce over this last year. Now I’m lucky if I make it to… Well, three or four games a season.”

In the second half, with Liverpool 2-0 up, I realised we hadn’t heard a peep from the kid in over an hour. What’s he watching on there, I wondered? Tony glanced sideways at the screen.

“He’s obsessed with this little Asian kid…. What’s his name again?” Tony yanked the earbud out of his son’s ear. “What’s that little Asian boy you watch called again?” “Ryan,” said his son, as he popped the earbud straight back in.

“This six year old kid named Ryan makes $10 million dollars a year on YouTube making videos of himself opening toy boxes for other kids to watch.”

This information seemed strange and incomprehensible to me. “I’m serious,” he insisted. “You think I’m bullshitting you. It’s the honest to God truth.” He was right. I did have trouble believing him. But I Googled it, and what he was telling me was completely true.

I struggled to glean from him what the appeal of such videos might be. So kids go on YouTube to watch other kids playing with toys? “Yeah,” confirmed Tony. “It’s huge. It’s basically toy porn. It’s a vicarious thrill for these kids. They can’t get enough of it.”

So why didn’t he leave the kid at home, I asked, to play with his actual toys, if he’s not interested in football? “I have to indoctrinate him to Liverpool FC,” was Tony’s answer. “You get them when they’re young. That’s how you do it. This is how my Dad got me. The fucker.”

Christ, I thought. What is wrong with us as adults? It’s bad enough kids have their own weird foibles and fixations. We have to foist ours onto them as well.

But of course, I couldn’t really stand in judgement. I don’t have kids myself. But I have two nieces and a nephew. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t secretly conspired to indoctrinate them with an allegiance to Mayo football.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The youngest girl is two. She was born and lives in Mayo to two Mayo native parents. I put her in a column marked “Safe”. The oldest girl is nine. She lives in Dublin, but her mother is a solid All-Ireland semi-final and final Mayo level supporter. Her father lives in the United States.

I regularly mind her after school. She knows how to hop and solo. She also knows how to field a high ball and pull it tight into her chest.

When challenged by another player (me), she tends to fall down on the ground and lie on top of the ball, laughing hysterically. But we’re working on that. She hates the Dubs and she always cheers for Mayo. She, too, I would put in the column marked “Safe.”

Then there’s my three-year-old nephew. His mother, my sister, is a Mayo supporter. But he was born and raised in Dublin and his father is a Dublin supporter.

He’s a tough little guy with a mind of his own. Babysitting him is like going ten rounds with Mike Tyson.

His first and only loyalty is to Paw Patrol. But looking forward, as far as his allegiances are concerned, like West Ham’s Declan Rice, I would place him in a column marked “vulnerable to outside influence”.

My nephew, his parents and I went to see the All Ireland ladies football final in Croke Park on Sunday.

When my sister brought my nephew to see Mayo v Dublin last year, he was wearing a red and green jersey. This year, with Cork and Dublin contesting the trophy, she couldn’t really object to him wearing a Dublin one.

He refused to put it on at first. I’d like to say it was loyalty to green and red. But in truth, he’d just woken up from a nap and was feeling particularly surly. He put it on eventually.

It was weird standing outside Gill’s pub before a game that Mayo weren’t playing in. You expected to run into dozens of red and green supporters you went to school with. Instead the odd one or two you met were also sheepishly escorting young Dubs fans.

The crowd in the stadium was enormous. When I was a volunteer steward in Croke Park in the early 2000s, 15,000 supporters on the gate would have been a good turnout for a ladies final. On Sunday there were more than 50,000 in attendance.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

Dublin captain Sinéad Aherne kicked at least one incredible long range point in the first half.

But besides that, the Dubs seemed hell bent on creating goal chances and if it weren’t for some brilliant, bloody-minded last ditch defending by the Cork full-back line, the final score could have been much more lopsided than it was.

After the trophy presentation and the fireworks, my sister and her partner took my nephew down to the sideline to witness the winning Dublin side’s lap of honour.

That was a step too far for me. I told them I had to split. I asked my sister how much I owed her for the ticket. “You’re grand,” she said, dismissing me. “Sure you can babysit for us again some night this week.”

Cool, I replied. Then I paused for a second. Wait, what did you just say?

But it was too late. They’d vanished into the crowd.  

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Updated Sep 19th 2018, 12:07 PM

AN ATTEMPT WILL be made in the coming months to sell the idea of introducing a second-tier All-Ireland football championship with the GAA President John Horan believing it ‘is the right thing to do’ as the issue of a gap in standards between counties in Gaelic football continues to arise.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

The GAA’s Central Council gave the green light earlier this month to the establishment of such a competition despite the proposal receiving a lack of support in 2016 and the motion subsequently being withdrawn before Congress that year.

But Horan feels that it is a move worth making by GAA chiefs and is conscious that it must be presented as a championship that would be ‘attractive’ for players.

Playing it concurrently with the main All-Ireland championship, staging the final as a curtain-raiser to the Sam Maguire showpiece and introducing an All-Stars scheme are all measures that could be brought in to boost the profile of the new competition.

“We discussed it the last day at Central Council, we put it to the floor for just a straw poll opinion,” stated Horan.

“Every hand went up, everybody was of the view that it should happen. We have written to the counties and we have asked them to come back with what they feel should be the make-up of a tier two competition. We will take on board what they have to offer and we will present it.

John Horan was speaking at the launch of the ESRI report into playing senior inter-county GAA.

Source: Sam Barnes/SPORTSFILE

“We are doing a bit of research as well into the performance of the Division 3 and 4 teams in the qualifiers in the last few years and see have they benefited or have they gained anything out of it. Have they beaten Division 1 or 2 teams or are Division 3 or 4 teams? Are any wins they are getting in the qualifiers, solely coming from beating Division 3 or 4 teams?

“I think if you are going to sell it, you are going to have to sell it in a manner that makes it attractive to players. If you’re a lad playing for Longford for 10 years, I think you are entitled to a day in Croke Park in September, rather than give it to a 15 or 16-year-old who may drift away from the game in a year or two and never really value that experience, so my hope would be that it would be a curtain-raiser to the senior final in September.

“It depends on how much momentum we get coming back from the counties that they will actually drive on and go with this and we can get it to happen. It would mean that those teams that go into Tier 2 wouldn’t play in the qualifiers, that the qualifiers would be a smaller competition restricted to maybe teams – and this is my own personal speculation on this – teams that are in Division 1 or 2 or teams that get to a provincial final.

“So if a Division 3 or 4 team or teams who get to a provincial final, they will get the opportunity to play one more game and get to the Super 8s. You are leaving the door open for everybody to try and win Sam Maguire. You are leaving it open for everybody to go and win a provincial title.

Division 4 league champions Laois reached this year’s Leinster final.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

“And maybe we will run this and if we played it in front of the All-Ireland final, picked an All-Stars team from it and we allowed them to go on an All-Star tour, then I think whatever team is involved might get the right to be in the qualifiers for the following year if their status hasn’t risen out of the League.”

If it was to be passed at next year’s Congress, the new championship would be first played in 2020 and Horan does not envisage a conflict introducing this competition while the three-year Super 8s experiment is still ongoing.

“I get a feeling talking to Seamus Hickey (GPA Chairman) and talking to other people, there is a feeling there to go for it. County Boards seem to be in favour of it. It’s to get the players to buy into it.

GPA Chairman Seamus Hickey.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“Look, it works in ladies football. It works in camogie and it works in hurling. I just can’t see why there is such a major resistance to it in football, but it’s there.”

Horan is mindful of the serious resistance expressed by players from the lower-ranked counties when this was previously debated but does not believe the GAA ‘should shy away from the debate’.

“I think that’s a challenge you have to take on, in fairness. I think it’s the right thing to do.

“It’s about how you present it to people and get people to buy into it and then hopefully you will deliver it.

“Like, if you go back, the present structure in hurling, which everybody eulogised, that was proposed back in when, 2012 and it was blown out the door.

“I think it was Tommy Lanigan made the comment to Pat Daly, ‘there was more time spent on discussing that topic than there was on our proposal at the meeting,’ and yet it has come through now.

“If it happens in my time, great. If this is the sowing of the seed for it to happen going into the future. I think it’s inevitable and I don’t think we should shy away from the debate.”

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THIS YEAR’S ALL-IRELAND Minor Hurling finalists dominate the team of the year with Galway and Kilkenny making up nine of the line-up.

The back-to-back champion Tribe are represented by forwards Donal O’Shea and Dean Reilly, with centre back Sean Neary, corner back Shane Jennings and goalkeeper Patrick Rabitte also making the cut.

O’Loughlin Gaels duo Jamie Young and Conor Kelly lead the Cats’ quartet, while Darragh Maher and Ciaran Brennan occupy berths at half back and half forward respectively.

The six non-finalists are made up of lone Limerick man Cathal O’Neill, Dubliners Donal Leavy and Luke Swan and the Tipperary trio of Conor Whelan, Sean Phelan and James Devaney.

“These players have performed exceptionally throughout the season,, giving it their all at every match,” says Electric Ireland Minor Star awards judge Michael Fennelly.

“Their talent is a testament to the families and communities that have supported them on their journey, and they’ve earned their place on the Team of the Year.”

2018 Minor Hurling Team of the Year

1. Patrick Rabbitte – Galway, (St. Mary’s)
2. Conor Whelan – Tipperary, (CJ Kickhams)
3. Shane Jennings – Galway, (Ballinasloe)
4. Jamie Young – Kilkenny, (O’Loughlin Gaels)
5. Darragh Maher – Kilkenny, (St. Lachtain’s)
6. Seán Neary – Galway, (Castlegar)
7. Seán Phelan – Tipperary, (Nenagh Eire OG)
8. Conor Kelly – Kilkenny, (O’Loughlin Gaels)
9. Donal Leavy – Dublin, (Naomh Olaf)
10. James Devaney – Tipperary, (Borris-Ileigh)
11. Cathal O’Neill – Limerick, (Crecora-Manister)
12. Ciarán Brennan – Kilkenny, (Bennettsbridge)
13. Luke Swan – Dublin, (Castleknock)
14. Donal O’Shea – Galway, (Salthill/Knocknacarra)
15. Dean Reilly – Galway, (Pádraig Pearses)

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A SUGGESTION THAT the GAA need to appoint a national figure overseeing the demands placed on younger players and ensuring they do not suffer burnout, has been warmly received by the chairman of the GPA.

GAA President John Horan spoke about his idea yesterday at the launch of the ESRI report into the playing of senior inter-county Gaelic Games.

He drew a parallel with the role played by David Nucifora in the IRFU, who has a direct involvement in the workload of Irish rugby players. 

“We are at a point, and it’s been shown in the stats here, where our younger players are coming under more pressure than our older players because of their multiple commitments to college, U20, U21 and senior teams,” stated Horan at the launch in Croke Park.

“Is it time for us as an organisation to take on board a character similar to David Nucifora in rugby where we have an actual Player Welfare Officer who ties in with our players, who dictates what is appropriate or not appropriate for our players to engage in?

“Or do we leave it to the multiple of managers to work on their own individual relationships, because if that’s happening then maybe the player isn’t central to it at all.”

IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

And GPA chairman Seamus Hickey would be delighted if such an appointment was implemented.  

“That’s a terrific idea. I’d love that. Again, it’s resource-dependent, so ideally, and listen there are a number of players associations across the world that we’ve modelled ourselves on, across the UK, New Zealand, Australia and the US, there’s amateur sports in the US and Australia and we can learn from them in terms of the structures that they implement.

“Now you are always limited by resources and anything you dedicate to the inter-county game takes away from the club. This is always a balancing act, we are a stakeholder in the GAA and we are always conscious of that.

“But our remit is to take the best possible care we can of inter-county players and we will continue to push to do that. A designated player relations officer or whatever is there in the IRFU; that’s a very intriguing prospect.

“Again it might eliminate this see-saw motion of new managers, new regimes and different philosophies coming in and changing how things were done. I would encourage it, I would be for it but again it is resource dependant.”

Hickey agrees that the history of regulation within GAA is poor but feels that it can be important.

“I said it previously, how committed are we to regulating? We’re a stakeholder in that, the Gaelic Players’ Association as a player.

GPA Chairman Seamus Hickey.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“It’s really important that these decisions are often removed, definitely take them out of players hands because players are eager and players will play generally when asked. management teams will do it if they’re let.

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“It’s how committed are we to regulation. If we’re talking about county boards, how committed are they to enforcing the rules? They have motivation if the less group sessions they do, the less expenses they pay.

“How committed are we to regulating the practice of training outside of the allotted times? The winter training ban was an example of a rule that was set in place without any real plan for enforcing it.

“It’s done in other amateur associations in the US, the NCAA, I’m not a massive fan of them in general about how they treat their players on a wider level.

“But their edict of maximum training hours a week is enforced and penalties are severe for infractions.”

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SEAN CAVANAGH IS continuing to recover from the injuries he suffered in a local championship match in Tyrone last weekend but is still hopeful of returning to line out for his club Moy in 2019.

Earlier this year Cavanagh won All-Ireland honours with his club in Croke Park at intermediate level but his 2018 campaign concluded with a loss against Edendork in a Tyrone senior football championship game last Saturday.

Cavanagh suffered concussion, a broken nose and extensive facial injuries in an incident during the game in Dungannon.

He spoke today to BBC Sport Northern Ireland about his recovery since the match.

“Thankfully I’ve recovered. My nose is sore. I still have heavy concussion but recovering. That’s the best bit. You are going to pick up knocks in sport. Saturday was no different. Thankfully the wounds are healing. Onwards and upwards.

“I’d hope so (to play again). I love the game. I love the sport. It’s something I’ve been doing a long time. I certainly don’t want to walk away from it at this point.

“It’s disappointing from our club’s perspective. We had high ambitions but fair play to Edendork, they pulled out a good performance and wish them all the best in the championship.”

Cavanagh, who works as an accountant, was forced to cancel a number of work meetings on Monday in the wake of the incident.

“When you’re married to a GP, she certainly gives you a bit more medical advice than most. It’s not always kind but I’m just having to deal with it. Concussion is part of sport. It’s a big part of sport now. If I can help other deal with it through my maybe not dealing with it so well in the past, so be it.”

He also told BBC report Mark Sidebottom that he has yet to see footage of the weekend incident.

“I’m sure through time, I’ll get a look at it.”

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2018 ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONS Limerick and last year’s Super 11s winners Clare are two of the sides heading to Fenway Park for this year’s edition on 18 November, with tickets on sale tomorrow.

Cork and Wexford are also on the billing with the four sides going head-to-head for the Players Champions Cup at the home of the Boston Red Sox. 

Fenway Sports Management (FSM) announced details today, with tickets going on sale at www.redsox.com/hurling at 12pm tomorrow. 

The Banner return to defend their title after they beat 2017 All-Ireland champions Galway 50-33 in last year’s final.

“I’m thrilled that hurling is coming back to Fenway Park and I am excited to welcome the teams, their fans, the Gaelic Players Association and the Gaelic Athletic Association to Boston,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said.

Anyone have plans this November? FOUR Elite Hurling clubs will be at Fenway November 18 for #GPASuper11s! @FenwaySportsMgt #itsback pic.twitter.com/8fQfXlAttw

— GPA Boston (@GPABoston) September 19, 2018

“Hurling is the one of the greatest games in the world and whether it’s American football in Dublin, college hockey in Belfast, or hurling right here in Fenway: It’s uniquely Irish and uniquely Boston.”

Fenway Sports Management Director Mark Lev added on the upcoming double-header:

“Hurling has been one of the most popular off-season events that Fenway Park has hosted in recent years and the tournament format introduced last year added to the excitement.

“The thrilling combination of speed, skill and scoring has made hurling a fan favorite and a can’t miss event on the Boston sports calendar. We’re thankful to work with great partners in the City of Boston, GPA and GAA to bring this dynamic event to an exciting off-season line-up at Fenway Park.”

Super 11s, a modified version of hurling, is the brainchild of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).

It’s designed for smaller pitches with just 11 players on each side. The only way to score is under the crossbar into the net, with a goal inside the designated scoring zone worth three points, and a score from outside worth five.

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THURLES SARSFIELDS ARE chasing five-in-a-row in the Tipperary senior hurling championship this year and they will face the recently crowned north divisional winners in their opening knockout tie in their bid to land the 2018 title.

Ronan Maher and Padraic Maher of Thurles Sarsfields with their mother Helen after last year’s Tipperary county senior hurling final.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Thurles Sarsfields, who have claimed the last four crowns and triumphed in seven of the last nine finals, rounded off their divisional campaign with a victory in the play-off tonight against Drom & Inch.

And they will now face Kilruane McDonaghs at the quarter-final stage with the Cloughjordan club winning the north championship last Sunday for the first time in 28 years.

That game will take place on Saturday 29 September as part of a double-header featuring 2011 champions Drom-Inch and Toomevara, who were last kingpins in 2008.

The remaining two quarter-finals are scheduled for Sunday 30 September with 2016 finalists Kiladangan taking on 2010 and 2011 finalists Clonoulty-Rossmore, with 2015 finalists Nenagh Éire Óg facing Loughmore-Castleiney or Killenaule – who meet in a preliminary quarter final clash next Tuesday night.

It represents a busy schedule for Loughmore Castleiney and Killenaule with both clubs facing Tipperary senior football quarter-final ties this Friday night.

Here’s the draw in full:

2018 Tipperary senior hurling championship

Preliminary quarter-final

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Tuesday 25 September
Killenaule v Loughmore-Castleiney, Borris-Ileigh, 8pm

Quarter-finals

Saturday 29 September
Toomevara v Drom & Inch, Nenagh, 2.30pm
Thurles Sarsfields v Kilruane McDonaghs, Nenagh, 4pm

Sunday 30 September
Kiladangan v Clonoulty-Rossmore, Dolla, 2pm
Nenagh Éire Óg v Loughmore-Castleiney/Killenaule, 3.30pm

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FORMER HURLER OF the Year Michael Fennelly believes players are putting even more time into their inter-county commitments than the figures revealed in the recent ERSI study.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

On Tuesday, the report jointly commissioned by the GPA and GAA in 2016 found that inter-county players were spending up to 31 hours per week in some cases on their sport, sacrificing family, sleep and downtime. 

Fennelly, who retired from Kilkenny duty at the end of 2017 duty due to injuries, says that figure may have increased in the two years since the players were surveyed. The inter-county season was condensed this year while more games were introduced into the hurling and football championships.

“They were saying (up to) 31 hours and a few years ago I was asked that question and I would always say ’25 hours’ off the cuff without even properly calculating it,” Fennelly says.

“25 is a lot and now they’re saying 31 – and that was done in 2016. From last year’s fixtures, in terms of the amount of game-time, that has definitely increased.

“More games, more pressure, more stress, so I would suspect that those figures are not accurate. Whatever it is at the moment it’s definitely higher, without a doubt. The fixture list last year, I remember seeing it from the Kilkenny players and other players around the county – the demand is that they’re on the go 24/7 now.

“Normally, you’d get a week off with your club, that’s how the fixtures used to be after a championship game. You’re back with them and you’re kind of on a little bit of a down with your club and you’re chilled out. You might get a social night out – whatever it may be.

Michael Fennelly was speaking at the unveiling of the 2018 Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Team of the Year

Source: David Fitzgerald/SPORTSFILE

“A bit more time to yourself and your family. But that didn’t really happen this year and the players are on the go 24/7. The gym is getting more emphasis as well because you want to prevent injuries and get stronger, build your skill level. And then obviously in the league, if you keep going in the league week-on-week you’re really just making life that much harder for the county players.”

Speaking at the launch of the study in Croke Park earlier this week, GAA President John Horan advocated the introduction of a performance director to regulate the commitments placed on leading footballers and hurlers. 

But Fennelly feels it may be difficult to police, given players are often handed individual programmes to work on away from the group environment.

“To be fair, you only train about two times a week normally. Then you have the gym, an hour yourself. There could then be a second gym, physio, rehab. It’s not all collective sessions.

“Recovery is going to be important – in terms of getting to the gym or getting on the bike. For me, Kilkenny was never always face-to-face stuff the whole time, there was individual stuff that players do.

“I know with other county teams perhaps there is an issue with a lot of face time, a lot of collective sessions and maybe a rule there would help. I know the NFL have gone from one extreme to another.

“Colleges over there where you can only have so many hours with a team. What managers do there, though, is that they say, ‘I want you doing this’. So even if they’re not physically on the field, they’re still going drill exercises. Where does it end? I don’t know.

“The year needs to be shorter for the players cause they’re probably starting too soon. They want to get a head-start every year and November is probably the latest that players are going back to do training sessions and mentally that’s the time to switch off.

“It’s the time to chill out, you always look forward to it and to do stuff for individually for yourself. I don’t know where it’s going to stop.”

John Kiely celebrates with his Limerick backroom team after their All-Ireland final victory

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

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He also feels the costs of funding inter-county teams will keep rising over the coming years as the size of backroom teams continue to swell.

“You need qualified people in there. You need sports psychologists in there. I think that’s going to play a bigger part in years to come. The physical well being, the mental well being of the person.

“But that’s more money, I think the county boards can invest more money into the qualified people. Sports nutritionists, you have them on part-time – I think Kerry have them on full-time.

“Try to look after the well being of the player but at the same time, you’re still switched on. Your nutrition you’re planning that. Your sleep, you’re planning that. You’re like a robot sometimes and that’s hard to sustain that over long periods you need to have that time.

“Recovery is going to be a big aspect of that and they do have to be a collective session for that but you’re expected to be in your recovery. I think the players want to perform to their best.

“You have to get it done, the players are highly motivated. Do you ban November and December altogether? The fixtures are an issue because there are more games now and the league is still there and then the two of them are the same now. The format for the league is similar for what happens in Leinster and Munster. It’s a bit much.”

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THE POST ALL-Ireland final debate over the role population and funding has played in the dominance enjoyed by Dublin footballers has continued to rage and while it has not surprised defender Philly McMahon, it is a line of thinking that he believes ‘can be dangerous’ on a wider level.

Dublin footballer Philly McMahon at the official launch of the new-look Chadwicks brand.

Source: Jason Clarke

Dublin completed four-in-a-row with their victory over Tyrone earlier this month yet their latest success has sparked a debate over the effects on Gaelic football from the control they are currently exerting.

And McMahon believes calls for change in the sport are to be expected if a team enjoys a large amount of success.

“It doesn’t surprise me. I find it interesting. For me I would think a little bit deeper when it comes to this, what are we feeding into our young kids in the clubs and inter-county levels?

“That if a team is successful, you should look for other ways to beat them or you should look for excuses why you can’t beat them? You can look at the population, there’s arguments for or against on all the excuses of why the football needs to change.

“I think to be honest, and it’s very easy for me to sit here and say that because I’m part of the team that’s successful, but for 16 years we had to look at what we needed to do wrong, we had to look at the failures and the pain that we had from not winning the Sam Maguire, and funnel that some way to where we are today and what we’ve achieved.

“It’s not a hidden secret what the Dublin county board did, going back and putting GPOs in clubs. Look it these are the things that most counties are probably doing now. I feel it sells media wise. We’re developed as human beings, even as millennials, we’re consumer-based, we only really like listening to negative things.

“The fans won’t like listening to Dublin are great all the time. I understand that in terms of the media world, that’s what sells. But it can be dangerous and send the wrong message to our younger kids. That you know what, losing, pain and suffering, it should be a form of life and certainly it should be a form of sport. Everybody has different meanings on life and football. You’ve just got to respect them.”

Philly McMahon in action for Dublin against Tyrone’s Colm Cavanagh and Padraig Hampsey.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

McMahon is adamant that the good times Dublin are experiencing are an example of a cycle in Gaelic football, comparing their current phase to previous golden spells enjoyed by the Kilkenny hurlers and Kerry footballers.

“In sport there’s not one team or one person meant to win forever. It’s just the way it works and when you have a team that’s successful for a long time, you’ll always have people that want to change in sport.

“No different to the way Kilkenny were and no different to the way Kerry were when they were winning so much. It does go in cycles and again we’d said it numerous times, we’re not going to look just yet on what we’ve achieved, certainly I won’t be until I hang my boots up.

“People want to focus on the football side of things when the season is on, when it’s off then there’s nothing really to focus on, so let’s look at another thing we can talk about. 

“That’s the way it’s going to be and it’s not ever going to change. If we lost the All-Ireland this year, the other way of looking at it is if a blanket defence team beat us, you’d be saying should everyone be doing that.

“Look the game evolves and I think it’s just about people learning and improving and getting to the stage where you can compete to win All-Irelands.”

The 2018 victory brought the number of All-Ireland senior medals in McMahon’s collection to six yet the volume of silver has not dulled his enjoyment of the latest win.

Philly McMahon celebrates after Dublin’s victory with the Sam Maguire.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

“I was at a charity event last week, a golf classic for St Michael’s House. Just the joy that you see when you bring the Sam Maguire into a room. There was a young lad there who had his wheelchair decked out in all blue (for) Dublin.

“You can never under-estimate the joy you bring on people’s faces through sport. You couldn’t get sick of winning any of them. I’d much prefer that cup staying in Dublin than going anywhere else in the country.”

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Philly McMahon was speaking at the official launch of the new-look Chadwicks brand, which took place at its recently upgraded Sandyford branch in South Dublin.

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Grafton Merchanting, Ireland’s leading building merchanting company which operates brands including Chadwicks, Heiton Buckley and The Panelling Centre today announced details of a store upgrade programme with 12 Chadwicks branches due for completion by the end of 2019.

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“I CAN HONESTLY say it’s a better feeling,” Siobhan McGrath grinned in the bowels of Croke Park shortly after she helped her Dublin side to another All-Ireland crown.

“I was so proud of them last year but it’s definitely a nicer feeling.”

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

Last year, she watched on from the Hogan Stand, one of 46,286. 

On Sunday, she gave a masterclass in defence across the 60 minutes as 50,141 observed. Her work rate was immense; she tackled, hounded, blocked and ran her socks off as she covered what seemed like every blade of grass on the pitch.

She’s complimented on her individual performance but is quick to deflect the spotlight away. This was about the team.

“I just thought everybody worked so hard out there, everyone was putting in tackles and playing simple, good football. I just thought everybody played unbelievable.”

“I’m so proud of everyone that walked onto that pitch.”

Well, she should be more than proud of herself for sure. An All-Ireland winner previously in 2010 after making her senior bow at the age of 15 in 2003, she’s definitely put in the years in the Sky Blue jersey.

She’s been there for good days and bad, for better or worse. But in 2014, she decided that she needed a break from everything. She packed her bags and headed for Australia shortly after Dublin’s All-Ireland final loss to Cork.

McGrath missed the further heartbreaking defeats which followed to the same opposition in 2015 and 2016, though she’s had many a battle with the 11-time champions down through the years.

Last January, she returned from her two and-a-half year stay in Oz but didn’t feel she was ready to return to the fold. In fact, when she left she never thought she’d go back to that level.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

But then there’s the unfinished business. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and what not, and back she went.

Satisfying to get her hands back on the Brendan Martin Cup?

“Extremely satisfying,” the Thomas Davis star smiles as she gathers herself.

“I’m kind of trying to let it sink in, it’s not really getting there yet but it will. It’s hard to believe that I came back this year, straight into a team that had just won an All-Ireland, and now we’ve done it again. It’s definitely a nice feeling.”

It was an intriguing battle between two great sides, with the crowd treated to a fine exhibition of all-out football. It started quite cagey and tactical but then grew into a thrilling, end-to-end clash played in full flow.

With Dublin on top, Cork came close time and time again in the second half reducing the deficit to two points as the final 10 minutes approached. 

But Carla Rowe found the back of the net for the second time as the clock struck 50 to ultimately settle the contest.

“They were getting their purple patch, we knew they were,” McGrath concedes.

“They’re an unbelievable team. We were never going to get our own way, they were always going to come at us. To be honest, I had the belief. We all had belief in each other.

“I didn’t fear that we were going to lose it. I felt we’d keep driving on and we’d get our scores, keep patient and drive on.”

The rivalry between the Jackies and the Rebels was touched on plenty in the build-up. There was talk of revenge and how special it would be to beat the old enemy who had inflicted so much hurt upon the Sky Blues.

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

It was played down by both camps, of course, but how sweet it must have been for Dublin as the final hooter sounded and they finally put the hurt of 2014, 2015 and 2016 to bed.

“It was addressed (the rivalry and history) but it was just more (about) the team that we are and not to buy into that,” she explains.

“I’d say it was outside both camps. Both camps probably tried to stay clear of that as much as they could, we did.

“It is a nice feeling. Personally, it is a nice feeling to get over it. They’ve been beating me personally for 10 years so it was nice!”

She adds, on the action itself: “I think every time we play Cork it’s a good game.

“It’s a good game for spectators to come out and watch, and I don’t think it was any different out there today.

“Everybody wants a game to be free-flowing: players on the pitch and obviously spectators all want the same thing. The ref was brilliant in what he did there today. He really enhanced or enabled a really good game of football.”

At this stage, she’s being rushed away to continue the celebrations elsewhere. A question about three in-a-row has already come up, and she understandably shook it off.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

The record attendance is addressed once again, another huge step for ladies football.

“That’s it! Keep breaking it.”

So next year 60,000 in Croke Park and Dublin for three in-a-row?

She laughs.

“Like I said we’re just going to enjoy this one!”

And that they will.

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